From 1776 to 1913, the year the Sixteenth Amendment and the federal income tax came into being, the source of federal revenue was from the collection of excise taxes and customs duties or tariffs. There was no income tax, no tax on corporations, and no payroll taxes. To help finance the Civil War, there was a temporary federal income tax of 3% that impacted less than 5% of the population. The first federal income tax occurred under President Abraham Lincoln, and it was repealed in 1872.
The federal income tax became the primary source of federal revenue in 1944. This shift occurred due to changes brought about by the Revenue Act of 1942, which significantly increased the tax rates for both individual and corporate income. TaxFoundation.org
Yes, you read that right, for the first 168 years of our existence, the federal income tax was not the primary source of federal revenue, excise taxes and customs duties or tariffs were. And, for the first 137 years or until the year 1913, there was no federal income tax except for a short period to finance the Civil War.
The United States prospered extremely well without an intrusive income tax that violates our Fourth Amendment right to be secure in our papers and effects, and our Fifth Amendment right not to be compelled to be a witness against ourselves. The U.S. Individual Income Tax is Incompatible with a Free Society, available through www.JeffersonianGroup.com or directly from Amazon.com.
The Economist warned, “Donald Trump is the more radical of the two candidates, with a vision for tariffs that would turn the clock back nearly a century on economic strategy.” As Dr. Mark Skousen opines, “Almost all economists agree that protectionism on net balance hurts economic growth and causes a trade war with other countries.” Skousen, unfortunately quotes Kamala Harris and agrees that “[tariffs] amount to a universal national sales tax.”
In a perfect world, free trade between Nations is ideal and everyone prospers. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world where American businesses have unlimited access to foreign markets. China and the European Union, along with almost every other country, impose tariffs. In addition, we now have a national security interest in bringing back manufacturing to the United States and not rely on other countries that want to replace us as an economic world power. Some countries even want to destroy the United States of America.
President Trump strategically used tariffs in his first term to negotiate better trade deals. As Dr. Victor David Hanson stated, “at home the economy in Trump’s first six hundred days was better than at any time in the last decade. Massive deregulation, stepped-up energy production, tax cuts, increased border enforcement, and talking up the American brand produced a synergistic economic swing, as evidenced by gross domestic product (GDP) growth, a roaring stock market, and near record unemployment. Abroad, Trump restored military deterrence, and questioned the previous unquestionable assumptions of the global status quo.”
The reason many economists agree that Trump’s tariff policies would increase prices is because they ignore all the other things that Trump will be doing to offset any price increases due to tariffs. Among other things, Trump will use tariffs to negotiate better trade deals, impose reciprocal tariffs to negotiate fair, or ultimately free trade (which does not exist today), reduce regulations, reduce income taxes, and tap the abundant energy resources or as he says, “drill, baby, drill.”
If President Trump gets re-elected, he will certainly “turn the clock back nearly a century on economic strategy” to Make America Great Again and bring back the American Dream, which has slipped away under the Biden-Harris Administration.
DO NOT VOTE DEMOCRAT… read Mark R. Levin’s The Democratic Party Hates America. Our only hope of survival, without revolution, or fear of World War III, depends on the election of former President Donald J. Trump, along with Republican control of Congress.
Dum Spiro Spero—While I breathe, I hope.
Slàinte mhath,
Robert (Mike) G. Beard Jr., C.P.A., C.G.M.A., J.D., LL.M.
PS: Please pass this along to everyone you know. The future of our children and grandchildren are at stake!